enough to let me have a memorandum which sets out these
proposals, together with a map showing the area proposed
to be transferred, subject to the result of the proposed
plebiscite.
" On receiving this memorandum, I will at once forward
it to Prague and request the reply of the Czechoslovak
Government at the earliest possible moment.
" In the meantime, until I can receive their reply, I should
be glad to have your Excellency's assurance that you will
continue to abide by the understanding, which we reached
at our meeting on the i4th September and again last night, that
no action should be taken, particularly in the Sudeten territory,
by the forces of the Reich to prejudice any further mediation
which may be found possible.
" Since the acceptance or refusal of your Excellency's
proposal is now a matter for the Czechoslovak Government
to decide, I do not see that I can perform any further service
here, whilst, on the other hand, it has become necessary that
I should at once report the present situation to my colleagues
and to the French Government. I propose, therefore, to
return to England.
" Yours faithfully,
" NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN."
At half-past ten on the same night, a further interview took
place between the Prime Minister and the German Chancellor*
In the course of it news arrived of the mobilisation of the C^ech
Army and consequently of all Sudeten Germans of military age.
The three hours conversation between the two statesmen^ though
friendly•, was exceedingly frank and direct, Mr. Chamberlain
describing the Memorandum in which Herr Hitler presented the
detailed German demands as an ultimatum^ and severely
critifising his proposal to send troops into the ceded territory
-without waiting for an agreed plan of peaceful and orderly
evacuation.
Next day Mr. Chamberlain returned to London fully cognisant
of the gravity of the situation, but still refusing to abandon hope*
Before taking off from Cologne he issued the following statement
to the Press: